RBVIE^?^. 



A Practical Treatise on the Culture and 

 Treatment of the Grape Vine. By J. Fisk 

 Allen. Second edition, enlarged. Boston — 

 Button & Wentworth. 1S48. 8vo. 75 cts. 



We noticed this work in our last volume, 



on its first appearance, as a pamphlet of 55 



pages. We are gratified to find that the 



interest manifested in the subject, and the 



value put upon Mr. Allen's experience by 



the public, has been such that a second 



edition has been called for. 



In fact, however, this second edition is 

 almost a new work ; having expanded from 

 the size of a pamphlet to a respectable oc- 

 tavo of 247 pages, — illustrated with the 

 necessary cuts, showing the training of 

 vines, the construction of vineries, &c. 



In the work, as it now appears, Mr. Al- 

 len has not only given us very fully the 

 results of his own well grounded experi- 

 ence in the culture of the grape under 

 glass, but, in order that his readers may 

 have the whole subject placed before them, 

 he has also given the opinions and practice 

 of the most successful cultivators of the 

 vine abroad. 



After looking through the work, we con- 

 fess by far the most valuable part of it, to 

 American readers, for whose use the work 

 is intended, is the account of the author's 

 own practice. The difference between the 

 climate of Europe and that of our northern 

 states, is so great that, for the culture of the 

 vine under glass, we need a code of rules 

 especially adapted to our wants. A new 

 theory is worth little in this matter. Only 

 a person with the experience and skill ac- 

 quired, as the author of this work has ac- 

 quired them, can be fully able to give these 

 rules ; and while it is interesting to know 

 what cultivators in other countries do, it is 

 much more interesting to know what has 



been, and what should be done here to en- 

 sure success. This we think the reader of 

 the work before us will be at no loss to dis- 

 cover, if he keeps before him the American 

 pr^tice, as pointed out by Mr. Allen. 



The following items, which we gather 

 from the work, will show some of the out- 

 lines of this experience. 



The best form for a cold-house for foreign 

 grapes is the spar-roof; for a forcing house, 

 a lean-to roof is much preferable. Minute 

 directions are given for the construction of 

 both these forms of houses, both with and 

 without a heating apparatus. The cost of 

 a spar-roofed house, 80 feet long by 22 feet 

 wide, at Salem, Mass., is Sl,000, or $12.50 

 the running foot. For a lean-to house, 

 without fire heat, the estimate (based on 

 actual cost,) is $8 per running foot. Ten 

 dollars the running foot, Mr. Allen states 

 as " the lowest price at which a plain 

 grapery, with a simple furnace, can be 

 built, with the vines planted, and all com- 

 plete." These are, we think, just esti- 

 mates ; though, in portions of the country 

 where materials are cheaper, the cost will 

 be less by 20 per cent. 



Mr. Allen is clearly in favor of having 

 the border outside of the house. He makes 

 it three feet deep, (excavating two feet,) 

 and composes it as follows : one-half loam, 

 one-fourth bones, or other strong manure, 

 one-eighth oyster shells, or lime and brick 

 rubbish, and one-eighth rotten stable ma~ 

 nure. 



"I am willing to admit," says Mr. A..» 

 " that vines do as well when planted in an 

 inside border, and when, as it is said, [al- 

 luding to the English practice,] they are- 

 well managed ; but they require more care 

 in watering, etc. I am not willing tQ al- 



